Lockheed Martin P 791 Hybrid Air Vehicle THE AIRSHIP

8 months ago
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The P-791 has a tri-hull shape, with disk-shaped cushions on the bottom for landing. As a hybrid airship, part of the weight of the craft and its payload are supported by aerostatic (buoyant) lift and the remainder is supported by aerodynamic lift. The combination of aerodynamic and aerostatic lift is an attempt to benefit from both the high speed of aerodynamic craft and the lifting capacity of aerostatic craft.

The P-791 was designed as part of the U.S. Army's Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) program, but lost the program's competition to Northrop Grumman's HAV-3 design. The P-791 was modified to be a civil cargo aircraft under the name SkyTug, with a lift capability of 20 short tons (18,000 kg) and plans to scale larger.

In March 2016, Straight-line Aviation signed a Letter of intent for 12 LMH1 airships, valued at $480 million.

The Lockheed Martin LMZ1M is the follow on to the P-791 test vehicle.

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